The Cat's Smile
by Toadflame
Summary: They've tracked her down, but she still manages to get one-up on Aqualad.


**This is, again, from the Young Justice Fanfiction Challenges forum, written for the SNAFU Challenge. I'm really hoping this is what you were looking for, **Cloaks and Daggers**!**

**

* * *

**

"_Fan out, she's going to be here somewhere,"_ Aqualad hissed, and the rest of the Young Justice team scattered into a loose semi-circle.

They had finally tracked Cheshire to a fairly secluded area outside Fairfax, Maine, and Kaldur was _not_ going to let her get away again. She'd slipped away once from Artemis after poisoning him, _again_, but twice was more than enough for the usually calm Atlantean to want revenge on her.

Silently, he ran over the ground, sticking to the shadows as best he could, and he could sense his teammates do the same. Wally flashed past, way on the end at his left, and out of the corner of his eye to his right, Connor took a large leap and landed-softly this time, unlike several of his previous attempts-in some of the shadows that dotted the ground. Megan was flying in the air to his left, invisible, but through the telepathic link she'd set up so they could all hear each other without the risk of communicators, he knew she was still there. No one was really sure where Robin was, but his presence was at the back of his mind, calculating moves with efficient ease. Artemis was the last on his right (at least, he thought. One never knew with Robin) and her bow was firmly grasped in her right hand.

The small cottage was hidden in shadow, at least, the side they were on was. The other side, right at the edge of a large expanse of grasses, wasn't probably overtly lit by the almost non-existent moon, but this side had the woods to it and was a much better way to sneak up to the place they believed Cheshire to be.

Kaldur ended with his back against the house, ducked to stay under the window's direct line-of-sight. Superboy was right next to him, and the clone's breathing indicated that he was borderline excited. A light patter of feet hitting what must've been shingles signaled that Robin was on the roof, and, like most cliché cabins, had a chimney that led down.

"_The chimney's blocked,"_ Robin reported through the link. _"I'll have to come down to get in."_

"_Wait for a moment,"_ Kaldur ordered. _"We'll go in first and make sure it's clear."_

"_I'm perfectly capable of doing that just as well as you,"_ came the petulant reply.

"_Uh, dude? We could hear that,"_ KF said, once again pointing out the obvious.

"_You were supposed to,"_ Robin sing-songed back.

"_Enough,"_ Connor butted in. _"We have a job to do."_

"_Thank you, Connor,"_ Aqualad said gratefully. _"Robin, I know you are more than capable of getting down and coming in with us, but it's always good to have a wave. Kid Flash, Artemis, will you also wait please?"_

"_Fine,"_ was the speedster's reply, though it sounded a little put out as well. _"But if you guys die before Rob and I are there, DON'T blame us!"_

"_Same here,"_ was the blonds' reply.

Kaldur rolled his eyes, not even bothering to reply as he, Connor, and Megan slipped in through the window that Kaldur had jiggled open while they were talking.

It was silent in the cabin, and Aqualad used his electricity power to gently light up the place.

It was slightly dingy, but not like slums dingy. It was decorated with several ornate rugs and a few animals stuffed on the walls, but it was dusty, like no one had lived there a long time.

"_Clear,"_ Kaldur sent, and a moment later, Robin, Artemis, and Wally were also standing in what must've been the living room.

Robin immediately went over to the fireplace and tried to look up through it. _"I think…"_ he murmured in his mind as he pretty much climbed over the grate to see what had stopped him from climbing through the chimney.

Kaldur didn't even have a chance to warn him to be careful before Robin was gone, vanished through the grate.

"_Stay here!"_ he practically yelled at his astonished teammates. _"I'm going after him."_

Without another word, Kaldur climbed in and was whisked away.

* * *

Aqualad rolled as soon as he hit the floor, grasping his sticks and willed them to form a mace on each one, his favorite weapon. Doing so, however, made it difficult to see without a light source.

He didn't have to worry too long about that, however, as lights were quickly thrown on. Kaldur squeezed his eyes shut against the light, and grunted at the impact of five darts on his chest.

"Let's see if _that_ doesn't stop you, hmm? Three knocked you out, five will, what? Kill you maybe?" Cheshire's purring voice asked from in front of him.

"Aqua-!" Robin tried to shout, but the duct tape clamped quickly onto his mouth cut off whatever else he was about to say.

Kaldur's eyes were open again, but his vision was blurring badly and he was weakening even more rapidly than the last time. His last sight was of Robin's feet stumbling to his…left? Right? before he blacked out. Again.

* * *

"Aqualad!" he heard, and he tried to groan. Who wanted him up that badly that they'd interrupt him in the middle of the night? The moon was still up, for-

Wait.

Kaldur blinked several times, memories flooding back to him.

"Did-"

Robin forestalled Kaldur's question with a hand. "Dude, don't talk. We'll tell you what happened when we get to the mountain.

"…No," Kaldur tried again. "Now."

Megan sighed. "Robin called us as soon as you were hit, but she was gone by the time we got there."

"Poison?" Multi-syllable speech was returning quickly, although more than one word at a time was proving to be a bit difficult.

"Not a scratch, strangely," Robin replied, standing as Connor lifted Aqualad. "But she threw me into the wall as soon as she had finished taunting by you, and when I turned, she was gone."

"The one…that got away. Again," Kaldur managed, before passing out as he was carried aboard the bio-ship.

* * *

**My prompt was **_Criminal Got Away _ft. _Aqualad and Cheshire_**, if you couldn't tell. Please don't get mad at me when I say that I am a very definite blond and had no idea who the heck Cheshire was, so I looked her up on Wikipedia. I was like, "OK, I can get some generic stuff on her and hope it'll be fine, I'll try to make up a fighting style for her." And I go down to 'Powers and Abilities' 'cause that's kinda important, right? Well, I see a picture out of the corner of my eye under 'Other Media' and I'm like, "Wait a second…" and then I see the other picture, and Cheshire was one of the assassins sent to kill that doctor lady before she could upload the virus in **Infiltrator**! So, I am officially more stupid than I was before (and I swear, I wasn't stupid before! Promise!).**

**Anyway, I don't really have a good grasp on her character as that was the first I'd ever seen of her, so if I messed her character up, let me know and I'll fix it best I can.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
